U niversity of - O regon M onthly
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about events in the lives of four young people of which none of them
had ever dreamed.
One morning, cloudy weather in the distance, foretold rain.
The captain’s barometer corroborated this prediction. As the day
wore on the rain came and with it came the wind in a tempestuous
rùsh. The once calm and peaceful ocean was, in a few minutes, a
boiling, seething caldron. The fury of a Pacific ocean stopu was
upon them. The great ship surged to and fro an4’»:iqtriyered help
lessly. By nightfall, passengers and crew were thoroughly alarmed
and even the captain’s fate- took oh a worried look. And well might
he be worried for he more than any one on board realized the help
lessness of a ship in an equinoctial storm.
Passengers were ordered below, hatches were closed down tight
ly, and the ship made ready to weather the gale-. Hourly the vio
lence of the tempest increased. A tremor ran through the frame of
the great vessel as she pounded over the waves. ‘Women went into
hysterics. Strong men prayed audibly that they might be spared
from the calamity which was threatened.- Seasick passengers, too
weak to pr.ay or cry aloud, groaned in their agony;
. At-midnight the hurricane was still raging. At one ©’dock there
was no change. Half an hour later the chief engineer, badly excit
ed, telephoned the captain that the propeller shaft was broken. All
hope vfcas then abandoned. The ship was helpless and adrift.
\^L;4rhe fury of the storm had blown the ship far to the southward
of her course. Every minute her peril was increasing. Not many
miles separated the ship from Narkana Island, whose jutting coral
reefs were the terror of every captain sailing in the South Pacific.
The captain stood on the bridge peering into the night. Suddenly
he covered his face with his hands. He knew that danger was im
mediately at hand. There was a roar as the great wave picked up
the vessel and a thud as the huge bulk was hurled upon the reefs.
The impact was tremendous. Passengers and crew were sent
sprawling on the deck.
! “Man the boats,” roared the captain, his face a ghastly color.
“Aye, aye, sir,” answered the mates.
But no boat could, weather such a storm. Hardly had the small
crafts left the ship when the passengers remaining on board saw
them tossed about on the waves and completely engulfed by great
combers.